The present exemplary embodiment relates to a manufacturing process and system. It finds particular application in conjunction with processing sand type molds, and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it is to be appreciated that the present exemplary embodiment is also amenable to other like applications.
Many types of manufacturing processes utilize sand molds to assist with the heat transfer required to manufacture work pieces from molten material such as iron. The basic steps of a sand molding process include placing a desired pattern in the sand to create a mold half, compress the sand and pattern into a gating system, remove the pattern, align the mold halves together to create a mold cavity, fill the mold cavity with molten material, and allow the material to cool and break away the sand mold to remove the casting.
More particularly, the known processes manufacture particular types of castings and various processes with particular features are employed depending on the requirements of the finished part or workpiece. For instance, vertical flaskless molding processes are employed to generate round and geometric shaped workpieces. Vertical flaskless molding is the process whereby sand molds are generated and stacked together horizontally along an elongated in-line process. Contact surfaces of each mold are vertically aligned and abut one another. Molten material, such as iron, is poured into a vertical joint of the mold halves whereby the material is allowed to harden, the sand mold is removed, and the workpiece is generated. A table or surface supports the molds on a common horizontal plane as a machine makes each mold half. The table includes particular features that are configured to allow the contact surfaces of each mold to maintain mold-to-mold contact pressure of each mold along the entire line such that molten material does not leak therefrom and until the material solidifies as intended.
Additionally, horizontal tight flask molding is utilized for thin longer and flatter work pieces. The horizontal tight flask molding process utilizes sand molds that are created and designed to stack together horizontally in a signal set. The contact surfaces of the mold halves align and abut horizontally in this process. Molten material is poured into the top mold half as the mold halves are formed in and maintained in a housing such as a steel “flask”.
Many types of conveyors are used to heat or cool the sand molds and work pieces. Conventional conveyors of different lengths and configurations translate the workpieces while directing air across the workpieces. Other foundry type conveyors that are generally known include U.S. Pat. No. 7,296,951 to Kraus et al., as well as U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,827,201, 7,037,048 and 7,377,728 to Markowski et al. each of which are incorporated herein by reference.
However, these processes address covered transporting molds with castings, and castings only, but have not addressed the problematic issue of actually measuring the temperature of the castings after being removed from the sand mold and applying a cooling method that automatically adjusts the amount of air, or high velocity air, that is applied to efficiently lower the temperature of the casting to a desired temperature for subsequent processing, e.g., de-gating and shot blast cleaning.